Into the Limelight
by Thepinkhouseowner
Summary: SEQUEL TO FORBIDDEN. It's the morning after the premiere, and it's time to deal with the aftermath. Gwen and Arthur deal with having their relationship thrust in the public eye as well as Uther's fury and Gwen's new business, Morgana and Leon have a wedding to organise, Merlin and Freya struggle with some unexpected news and Gwaine continues in his downward spiral... modern AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Into the Limelight**

**Aaaand I'm back! Seriously, just the fact that enough people cared about this story enough to want a sequel was enough to make my 2013. Thank you all so, so much. I've tried to include things people wanted me to include, hopefully I've done your ideas justice...**

**THIS IS THE SEQUEL TO FORBIDDEN, so it might be a bit difficult to follow if you haven't already read Forbidden. Here's an idea: go and read that one first. It's good, I promise. Kind of.**

**So, read on and enjoy... and let me know what you think! xxx**

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**

Gwen woke to the feeling of Arthur's lips on hers, and she smiled groggily against them. 'Good morning,' he whispered when he realised she was awake. She opened her eyes fully. They were in Arthur's flat. It was the morning after the premiere, and they had come back here late last night to have their own after-party.

'Good morning,' she whispered back. 'Last night was... incredible.' Lightly, she traced a finger down his bare chest.

'Which bit, the premiere or the sex?' he asked curiously.

'The premiere,' she laughed, 'But yes, the sex was good too.'

'I'm glad you thought so. Are you ready to face it?'

'Face what?'

'The articles that will already have been posted online.' He reached for his iPad on the table next to the king-sized bed, and she nodded nervously. Nothing in her life compared to what the premiere had been like last night. Apart from being blinded by the flashes of the cameras, deafened by the screams of the fans, and seeing Uther look at her with an amount of anger she had never seen before, Gwen thought that overall it had gone rather well. Nothing had been thrown at her, at least, and there had been no dress malfunctions... she just hoped that not only the reveal of Morgana and Leon's relationship but also the reveal of their engagement had drawn some of the attention away.

'Here we are,' said Arthur, resting against the headboard of the bed. Gwen did the same, and watched Arthur type 'Pendragon premiere' into the news section of Google. Within seconds, over 8 million results had been found. 'Here goes,' said Arthur grimly, and clicked on the top result, which was an entertainment website. They both scanned through the article quickly, relieved when it seemed to be in their favour. The next few similar articles all seemed to have a similarly positive vibe too, although Arthur was rather annoyed that all of them had included Gwaine's quote about him being whipped. Content, they lay back down in bed again, Gwen resting her head on Arthur's chest.

'It's going to be weird, filming the sequel without you,' said Arthur. 'Not seeing you every day, not having lunch with you...'

Gwen shrugged, and smiled. 'My offices are a fifteen minute walk from Camelot. We'll be fine. I can visit you during lunch, you can visit me...'

'Good,' he said, leaning down to kiss her again. 'This is going to work, you know.'

Gwen smiled again. 'I know.' She stretched, and heard her stomach rumble.

'Breakfast?' Arthur suggested.

'Breakfast.'

Once dressed (well, kind of- Arthur in a t-shirt and boxers and Gwen in Arthur's shirt from last night and a pair of knickers) they moved into the kitchen area of the flat, where Arthur began poking through the cupboards. 'What do you want, tea or coffee?' he asked over his shoulder.

'Coffee,' she said, filling the kettle up with water and putting it on to boil.

'Do you want cereal or toast?' he asked as he spooned coffee granules into two mugs.

'Ah, I would kill for a fried breakfast,' she thought aloud, and opened the fridge to look for bacon. All she found, however, was a milk carton, different juices, some bottles of wine, a tub of butter, a jar of jam, and a jar of pickled eggs. Gwen looked back in confusion at Arthur, who was watching her sheepishly. 'Arthur, where's all your food?' she asked.

He shrugged, looking back at the kettle that had just begun to boil. 'I don't really eat here much,' he confessed. 'When I do have people round, we usually just order a take-out or I get Merlin round to cook something for me.'

'You can't cook?' she exclaimed. 'How is that even possible?'

'It was never really necessary,' he said casually like it wasn't a big deal that _a twenty-seven year old man couldn't cook. _'We had cooks to do everything for us growing up, and then there was the staff at Camelot, or the dinners at the big fundraisers, or the nights out...'

Gwen shook her head. 'Okay, I'm going to have to teach you how to cook. I'm surprised you can even make a cup of coffee.' She took a sip of the drink that had been handed to her and immediately spat it back into the cup. 'You can't even make coffee,' she whispered, and poured the rest of the drink down the sink and starting afresh with new granules.

'That coffee was fine,' he protested. 'I used the same amount for my own, and that tastes all right...'

'Arthur, that was so strong it could kill a child. How can you drink it like that? Coffee needs milk, and half the amount of granules that you clearly just used.'

Now it was his turn to roll his eyes. 'But then the caffeine doesn't have a strong enough effect.'

'Yes it does.'

'No it doesn't.'

'Does.'

'Doesn't.' She was about to retort when he came up behind her and put his hands around her waist, hands resting just under the front of her shirt. Slowly, he kissed the side of her neck and she breathed out slowly, trying to stay composed as his hands traced the hemline of her knickers. 'I win,' he whispered in her skin. She was just about to turn round to face him properly when there was a knock on the door, making her jump, but Arthur continued to place kisses along her neck. 'Ignore them, they'll go away soon enough,' he whispered as the person knocked again. Whoever it was obviously didn't want to be kept waiting.

'Don't ignore me, Arthur,' came the sound of Uther Pendragon's voice from the other side of the door. 'I know you're in there.'

Both Gwen and Arthur froze. 'Shit,' whispered Arthur. 'He _never _comes round, I just get summoned to his office...'

Uther knocked again. 'Arthur, I'm warning you...'

Gwen suddenly remembered what she was wearing. 'I'm not dressed!'

'Just- just hide in my room and get dressed while I deal with him.'

'I didn't bring any clothes with me, we came straight from the premiere!'

'Borrow a pair of boxers or something.' He kissed her quickly and she ran into the bedroom, shutting the door behind her. She locked the door at the exact moment that Arthur let his father in, and she began to search through drawers as quietly as possible. In the top drawer below the window she found, to her surprise, a bag containing woman's clothes that looked like they would fit her, and a note on top of them. It read:

_Gwen, I'm going to assume you didn't pack any clothes to wear the morning after the premiere? If that's the case, here are some clothes for you. We stole them last time we were round at yours. Hope the premiere went well._

_Love, Merlin._

She smiled and pulled the clothes out of the bag. There was fresh underwear, a pair of leggings and a loose dress, and she began to get changed quietly.

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**

Meanwhile, Arthur had just let his father into the flat, who despite the earliness of the morning was already dressed in a suit. Arthur shut the door behind him and watched nervously as Uther walked into the kitchen area, noticing the two mugs on the side and drumming his fingers on the worktop.

'I bought you this flat for your nineteenth birthday present,' said Uther quietly. 'Do you remember?'

Arthur nodded, not really seeing where this was going.

'My credit card paid for all your holidays too, and all your expenses when you got drunk and your friends smashed your hotel rooms up. Do you remember that?'

Arthur nodded again.

'And those clothes that you're wearing- I gave you the money to buy those, too, by giving you a major role in every film I've made since you were a teenager. Remember?' Arthur nodded, and Uther looked him in the eyes. Arthur had never seen him look so dangerous. 'And how do you repay me?' Uther continued. 'BY HUMILIATING ME AND MY COMPANY ON THE RED CARPET IN FRONT OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE AND THEIR CAMERAS BY BREAKING YOUR PROMISE TO STAY AWAY FROM _HER, _THAT'S HOW!' He suddenly roared, making Arthur jump.

'That wasn't why we did it,' Arthur said quickly. 'You wouldn't believe me when I said I was serious about my relationship with Guinevere. I felt I had to prove it to you. We didn't do this to spite you. We did it to show you that we're in a serious relationship, and this is just something that you're going to have to get used to.'

'Arthur, you've got to see sense,' Uther said impatiently. 'She's clearly only with you for your celebrity status and your money.'

'She's not!' Arthur insisted, trying not to let his temper rise. 'We're with each other because we love each other, and I know that she would still be with me if I was the poorest man on earth.'

'Rubbish,' Uther snarled. 'Is she here? I bet she's here.' He looked over towards the closed bedroom door. 'Guinevere! Come out here.'

There was a brief silence and then the door opened and Guinevere walked out into the kitchen area to stand next to Arthur, looking nervous but still holding her chin up high. 'Hello, Uther,' she said.

'I suppose you think you can get away with murder when it comes to my son, now that you don't work for Camelot,' said Uther quietly, and Gwen almost felt a shiver run down her spine. 'Mark my words, Arthur: she's only with you for status and money. Once she finds someone more influential and richer, she'll move onto him.'

'_Guinevere _is standing right here,' said Arthur angrily. 'You could at least do her the courtesy of acknowledging her presence when talking about her.'

Uther stayed silent for a minute, staring down at the worktop and seemingly steadying himself. 'All right,' he said eventually when he looked up. 'It seems that as you won't listen to your own father when it comes to seeing sense, I'm going to have to treat you like a child and take away your privileges. Filming for the sequel of the Sword in the Stone will be postponed. The film that was meant to be filmed after, which you know you were going to have the lead role in. Do you remember our meetings about that film?'

Arthur nodded, not liking where this was going.

'I'm giving your part to Gwaine, instead.'

Arthur and Gwen both opened their mouths to protest, but Uther carried on talking. 'There will be no arguments on the matter. I'll get him to sign his contract this afternoon.'

'You can't do this!' Arthur exclaimed as Uther went to open the front door.

Uther stopped and turned round to face his son again. 'I can, and I will,' he said sternly. 'There is no more to say on the matter, only that you will have a minor role in the next film. Maybe a line or two, nothing more. You can see if Guinevere stays with you then.' He left the flat, leaving a deathly silence behind him.

Arthur turned to face Guinevere, and was surprised to see she wouldn't meet his eyes. 'Maybe I should go,' she said in a small voice.

Arthur frowned. 'What? Why?'

'Look, I know that you love me, but I don't want to be the one who comes between you and your father ...'

He interrupted her with a kiss, pushing her against the worktop once more. They broke apart for breath a moment later. 'Sod my relationship with my father,' said Arthur quietly. 'All I care about is you.' He began to kiss her again, but she pulled away with a smile.

'As much as I'd like to continue this,' she said, 'I said I'd go round to Morgana's at eleven, and if I don't leave soon then I'm going to be late.'

'Why do you have to go to Morgana's?' he complained, trying to bring her back towards him.

'Just girl talk,' she replied with a smile. 'Freya's going to be there, too.'

'All right, then.' He checked his watch. 'Although I'd say you've still got a good ten minutes before you need to leave.'

'Oh, yeah?'

'Yeah.'

The next kiss was slow and deep, and Gwen let Arthur unzip the back of her dress and let the material fall to the floor. She was just beginning to work her hands under his t-shirt when her phone began to ring on the worktop next to her. They both paused. 'Leave it,' whispered Arthur roughly, continuing to plant kisses on her neck. Gwen obeyed and closed her eyes, tilting her head to give Arthur easier access. The phone stopped ringing, and she had just managed to remove Arthur's t-shirt entirely when it began to ring again.

Unwillingly, she opened one eye to try and see the screen of the mobile. Lancelot's name was flashing up. She reluctantly tried to escape Arthur's embrace, and he looked up at her, confused.

'I should, um, probably get that,' she said, and he continued to look longingly at her.

'It's Lancelot. He probably wants to talk about the premiere. I said I'm ring him. I'm sorry...'

Arthur groaned and released her so she could pick up the phone just in time. 'Hello?' he heard her say. 'Oh, hi, Lance. No, you weren't interrupting anything...' she mouthed "sorry" across at Arthur pleadingly, who grimaced and shuffled off to take a very cold shower. When he came back into the kitchen area twenty minutes later, Guinevere had already left. In her place was a note:

_Really sorry I had to leave so soon. Leon rang me as well, and because it's Friday everyone's assuming poker's still on, and they all think we should do it at yours. If you're up for it, let me know and I'll bring pizza or something. See you tonight?_

_Gwen xx_

He smiled and picked up his phone to text everyone and let them know that yes, poker would be at his tonight, and he expected them all to bring their own beers and crisps.

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**

'We did it!' Morgana squealed when Gwen arrived at her flat ten minutes later. 'We showed them!'

'We certainly did,' replied Gwen with a smile, and then looked round the flat. 'Sorry I'm late... is Freya here yet?'

'Merlin just called, she's ill and he's making her stay at home so he can look after her. Seriously, those two are adorable.' She shook her head affectionately and they walked through to the kitchen. 'What do you want to drink? Tea? Coffee?'

'Coffee, please.'

'So have you dared to look at the papers yet?' Morgana called over her shoulder.

Gwen nodded. 'They were all rather nice about us, actually. Nicer than I expected. And hardly anyone in the comments section said I was with him to be famous. What about you and Leon? Were they nice about you?'

'Oh, it was brilliant, because they've all been saying that we've secretly been together for years now, so we basically proved them all right, so they're very happy with us,' said Morgana, grinning. She handed Gwen a mug of coffee and they sat down at the table together. 'Are you working today?'

'Lancelot says I don't have to come in until the afternoon,' said Gwen. 'I wanted to take the whole day off really, but he's right, we really do need to get to work on marketing after Fashion Week. I've got a meeting with my promotion team at two. Can you believe that? I have a team!'

'That is amazing,' Morgana agreed. Then she looked at Gwen properly, who was biting her lip. 'Are you really all right?'

'I... kind of. Uther just turned up at Arthur's flat,' she confessed.

Morgana nearly spat out her coffee. 'Seriously? Uther actually left the office to see him?'

'Yeah. Let's just say he wasn't too happy about my appearance at the premiere last night.'

'Shit. What did he do?'

'Well, he lost his temper a bit, and he's rescheduled the films. They're filming another one instead of going straight onto the sequel for The Sword in the Stone which Arthur was originally meant to have the lead role in, but the role's being given Gwaine instead.'

'Shit,' Morgana repeated. 'How did Arthur take it?'

'He seemed okay, I suppose, but I don't know if he was putting it on just because I was there. I don't know, Morgana. He's going to have to put up with so much stuff from his father because of me, and no matter how much he says he doesn't care, I really think it affects him.'

'I know,' said Morgana. 'But even if it does affect Arthur, he'll stay with you instead of Uther. He loves you more; that's fact. Uther's acceptance would just be a bonus. Now come on- as your best friend, I expect to receive advance previews of all your designs from now on. What have you got planned?'

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**

'Freya?' Merlin shut the door behind him and turned to see Freya sat on the sofa. He took this as a good sign, because this morning she hadn't looked well enough to sit up in bed. She hadn't been feeling well for a few days now, and when he had woken up to the sound of her vomiting this morning he'd insisted that she took the day off. She looked round when he walked towards her and tried to smile, but it came out as more of a grimace.

'Feeling better?' he asked, kissing her softly on the cheek and kicking off his shoes before joining her under the blanket. His hand found her leg, and he ran his fingers up and down her thigh lightly.

'Um, not really,' she said quietly, eyes not moving away from the TV.

Merlin frowned. 'Do you think it's virus? Maybe we should go to the doctor's and get you some antibiotics...'

'It's not something that antibiotics can solve,' said Freya quickly.

'What do you mean?'

'Well...' she took a deep breath, and turned to face him fully, and turned off the TV. 'I was in bed this morning, trying to think what was wrong with me. I've been feeling my worst in the morning, although it's carried on all day, I'm tired, I just want to eat chicken soup all the time, my boobs _really _hurt...'

Merlin felt his eyes widen. This couldn't be what he thought it would be. They weren't ready. They were poor. They weren't married. This wasn't planned. 'Freya...'

She was crying now. 'And then I realised my period was two weeks late, and I took a test, and...'

He wrapped his arms around her tightly. 'Oh, my god,' he whispered into her hair. 'Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god.' He felt her tears dripping onto his shoulder, and almost felt like joining in. 'What are we going to do?'

She pulled away, sniffing and wiping her eyes on her sleeve. 'I have no idea. How can we have let this happen? We were so careful!'

Merlin sat back in the sofa, his mind spinning with numbers and dates. 'How far along are you?' he asked eventually.

'A few weeks. Not very far. But I'm not going to get a- I couldn't-'

'No.' He shook his head quickly. 'That wasn't what I meant. I was just thinking... about work, and stuff. We'll have to start saving.'

'Saving?'

'You know, for stuff for the nursery. And- and for when you can't work, when you're on maternity leave. And- oh, I completely forgot, Mum called. She's in London next week and has invited herself round for dinner. We'll tell her then.'

'Oh, no. I'm going to have to tell my parents.' Tears started to trickle down Freya's face again. Her parents were devout Catholics, and had never warmed to Merlin when they had first been introduced to each other. He couldn't see them taking the news that their daughter was pregnant out of wedlock as a good thing.

'It will be fine,' said Merlin, almost forcefully, and he honestly didn't know who he was trying to convince more. 'We'll manage. Everything will be fine.'

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**

'Good evening,' smiled Gwen as Arthur let her in. She put the pizzas down on the kitchen counter before reaching up to kiss him, and then felt his hands drift towards the hem of her dress. 'There's no time,' she laughed. 'The others will be here any minute.'

'You're in a good mood,' Arthur observed, following her through to the living room and pulling her down onto the sofa with him.

'I had a really good day at work. We've got massive plans for the next line already, and our online stock has completely sold out already.'

'Sounds better than mine,' said Arthur, kissing her again. 'I've been doing interviews all day to promote the film, stuck in a hotel room with each journalist asking exactly the same questions as the previous one.'

There came the sound of the door opening, and Leon, Percival and Gwaine walked in, each carrying either beer or crisps.

'Ew, that's gross!' said Gwaine in a false American accent, and Gwen and Arthur disentangled themselves, grinning sheepishly. Arthur began to shuffle the cards, but Percival stopped him.

'Aren't we waiting for Merlin?' he asked, and Arthur shook his head.

'He texted to say he wasn't feeling well, or something,' he replied.

'Maybe there's something going round,' suggested Gwen, sorting out the chips. 'Freya was meant to meet me and Morgana today, too.'

'Sounds to me like they just wanted a day in bed, if you know what I mean,' grinned Leon, and the others laughed. 'He'd better turn up for work tomorrow...'

The first round of poker commenced, and not even half an hour into the game did Gwaine lose the last of his chips. He swore and threw his cards down to the jeers of Arthur and Leon before standing up and stretching. 'Can I use your balcony, Arthur?' he asked, reaching for his jacket.

'Um, sure,' said Arthur, frowning. 'Why?'

'I need a smoke.' He went to leave the room, but Leon threw out a hand to stop him.

'You smoke?' said Gwen in disbelief. 'Since when?'

Gwaine shrugged. 'A while now. A few months. We really need to hang out more if you didn't already know...'

'Don't smoke,' said Arthur at once. 'You know my father's giving you the lead in this new film, and when the part was mine he kept hinting at me to go the gym more often. You're going to need all the fitness you can get, and believe me, smoking does not help in that department.'

Gwaine shrugged again and walked out of the room and a moment later they heard the balcony door slide open. 'I'll start training later,' he shouted to them.

Arthur turned back to the others. 'Can you believe that?' he asked, and they all shook their heads. 'I mean, when we were over in America he went out a lot with some friends, but I never thought... I'll get Merlin to speak to him tomorrow, he listens to him the most.'

Once Gwaine had been sprayed by Gwen with Arthur's deodorant, which she claimed was absolutely necessary before he came back inside, they continued with the game, and before midnight Leon had won and was gleefully collecting everyone else's money. 'See you tomorrow,' he said to them all happily before leaving. Percival and Gwaine followed, with Percival supporting Gwaine slightly given the number of beers the Irishman had managed to get through. Once they were alone, Gwen turned in Arthur's arms and kissed him softly. 'How was today really?' she asked sympathetically.

He shrugged, looking away and playing with a strand of her hair. 'It was okay,' he said. 'Apparently Father made the announcement about the change of schedule and Gwaine being given the lead at Camelot. I told them all not to talk about it tonight, which is why it didn't come up. Right now, I need to keep work and home very separate.'

She nodded in understanding. 'Look, if there's anything I can do-'

'There's nothing, honest. Stop beating yourself up about it.' He kissed her back, and felt her relax. 'Come on. I could do with a shower...' he winked at her suggestively, and she rolled her eyes.

'Do you have a fear of showering alone?' she laughed as he took her by the hand and led her through to the bathroom.

'Only since you came along,' he whispered into her ear, causing goosebumps to appear on her neck. 'Now come on. I haven't been with you properly _all day...'_

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**

The next day at work was difficult for Arthur, to say the least. Yesterday, Uther had told everyone that the reason for giving the lead to Gwaine was because of Arthur's promotion schedule, and even though the interviews for the film weren't even taking place at Camelot itself but in a hotel instead, there were still a lot of mutterings amongst Arthur's team who were speculating on what the real reason might be. Merlin's strange mood wasn't helping, either. His usually talkative (often to the point of annoying) assistant had been almost completely mute all day, doing as he was told in a trance and adding no sarcastic comments to any of his instructions. By lunchtime, the atmosphere between the two of them as they ate alone in the side room became unbearable.

'Oh, for god's sake, Merlin, say something!' Arthur finally burst out, and Merlin looked up from his salad to stare at him.

'What?' he asked, frowning.

'You've barely spoken today, and believe it or not, I'm beginning to miss your mindless chatter. What's wrong?'

Merlin stared back down at his salad again. 'Freya's pregnant,' he said after a moment.

Arthur stared at him. 'Shit.'

'Yeah.'

'Judging by your reaction, I'm guessing this wasn't planned.'

'You got it.'

'Are you going to get it-'

'No.' Merlin shook his head quickly. 'We both said years ago that that would never be an option.'

'So... you're going to be a dad.'

'Yeah.'

'You're going to have to learn to change nappies and stuff.'

'I know.'

'And be responsible for an actual human being.'

'Uh-huh.'

'For _eighteen years._'

'Not helping, Arthur.'

'Sorry.' He paused. 'Do her parents know yet?' Their entire friendship group knew about Freya's strict Catholic parents, who were strong believers in no sex before marriage. Arthur was almost certain that they didn't even know about their only daughter living with her boyfriend.

Merlin shook his head. 'We're having dinner with them next week.'

'Do you have a plan?'

'For what?'

'You know, how you're going to tell them. "Hello, Mr and Mrs White. Very sorry, but I've accidentally knocked up your daughter and we're going to have this baby out of wedlock.'

'I'll ask her to marry me,' said Merlin, almost to himself. 'It won't be anything fancy– just us and a couple of witnesses. She's only a few weeks gone, so if we get married soon enough then maybe we could pretend we got pregnant after the wedding. Her parents won't suspect...'

'Do you have a ring?' asked Arthur after a moment.

Merlin shook his head. 'We don't need one. We're going to have to cut back on everything for a while if we're even going to be able to consider being able to afford baby clothes, and a pram, and a nursery- hell, we don't even have a room to make into a nursery, it'll just have to be a corner of the living room...'

'Merlin, if you need some money, all you have to do is ask.'

'I have savings, but we honestly don't need a ring. Not even a proper wedding dress- white would hardly be appropriate anyway, given the circumstances,' he chuckled. 'No honeymoon, either, because we can't take time off work, but maybe Mum will lend us her house for a couple of days in the summer...'

Daniel, Arthur's publicist, stuck his head round the door. 'We're ready to start again,' he said. 'Just a couple more hours, and then we'll be done.'

Arthur groaned and stood up. 'Great. Actually, Merlin, I'd love a coffee- could you run downstairs and get me one?'

Merlin sighed. 'Yes, your highness.' He left the room, and Arthur looked around for their bags. He found his wallet and looked inside, taking out five twenty-pound notes and stuffing them into the pocket of Merlin's coat. He smiled slightly to himself of the thought of Merlin being a _parent _before leaving the room to face the endless journalists' questions.

At the end of the day, when everyone was packing away and Merlin and Arthur were putting their coats on, Merlin frowned and pulled the money out of his pocket. 'Arthur, what is this?'

'That, Merlin, is a handful of twenty-pound notes. If you look in the corner, there's a number two and a number zero next to each other, and that means-'

'Arthur, I can't take these.' He tried to hand the money over, but Arthur swerved out of the way.

'Well, they're certainly not mine. Why would I give you money? That would imply that I want to help.'

'Arthur...'

'Look, I definitely didn't put them there,' said Arthur with a smile. 'And finders keepers. You have to keep them now, it's the rules. I'll see you tomorrow- and say hi to Freya from me.'

Arthur walked away, still smiling, and dialled Gwen's number. It rang a few times, and then went to voicemail. Realising she must still be working, he shoved the phone back in his pocket and got into the car waiting for him outside the hotel, ready to take him home. It began to drive and his phone began to buzz in his pocket, and he picked up. 'Hello?'

'It's me,' said Gwen on the other end of the line. 'Sorry I missed your call, I was in a meeting... what's up?'

'I was just wondering if you want to do something tonight,' he said, smiling in spite of himself. 'We could go out for dinner, or rent a film...'

'Dinner sounds wonderful,' she said. 'Where shall I meet you?'

'I'll pick you up at quarter to seven; I'll book a table somewhere nice. Wear something dressy.'

'Okay. I've got to go now, but I'll see you later. I love you,' she replied quickly. The line went dead.

'I love you too,' said Arthur quietly, putting the phone back in his pocket. As soon as he got home he rang Kilgarragh's, a restaurant that was a ten minute drive away and one of his favourites. They were usually quite busy, but the head chef was a friend of Gwaine's mother and had a soft spot for him and his friends. He was certain Gwen would love it, too. As promised, he turned up at Gwen's at quarter to seven to find her wearing a figure-hugging red dress.

'You look beautiful,' he told her truthfully, handing her the bunch of red roses he had picked up the long way.

Her face softened as she took the flowers. 'Arthur, you didn't need to...'

'But I wanted to,' he corrected her. 'I know we've been together for well over a year now, but if we include the premiere then this is only our second official date, and I want to do it right.'

They arrived at the restaurant on time and were shown to their seats, and Gwen had the chance to look around properly. The restaurant was done in red and gold (which may have been why Arthur liked it so much) and had candles everywhere, and the table they were at was in a corner hiding them from the windows, showing the street in which they had been gawped at before coming inside. A small jazz band played quietly in the centre of the restaurant, and waiters swerved around them to deliver delicious-smelling food to their customers.

The conversation flowed easily between the two of them as the food arrived and Gwen was telling Arthur about her day. 'So Lancelot thinks we should definitely look into some buying some new warehouses, because at the rate business is going we're going to have to expand yet again,' she concluded, taking a bite of her pasta. 'Oh my god, this is delicious.'

'Do I ever actually get to meet this guy?' asked Arthur as he began to eat his ravioli. 'Lancelot, I mean.'

Gwen smiled. 'Actually, we were talking about you today. I think it would be really nice if we had dinner with him, because he really wants to meet you properly and I know the two of you would get on really well.'

'You two seem really close,' Arthur noted, trying to sound casual. 'Considering how little time you've been working together.'

Gwen smiled again and reached for Arthur's hand over the table. 'You have nothing to worry about,' she told him. 'Lancelot's lovely, but... well, he's not you. There's not that spark that we have. I don't fancy him- we're just close because we went to university together, and he knows the business. That's all.'

She continued to smile at him, but her thoughts drifted elsewhere. She'd been suppressing the memories for a while now, but occasionally they would come to the surface again. They'd discussed it when they'd reunited in America after meeting at ComicCon, that it didn't mean anything and there was no awkwardness over what had happened all those years ago...

_It was just another party in someone's house, in their second year at university. Gwen couldn't remember drinking that much, but as she stumbled out of the bathroom she wondered if someone had spiked her drink. 'Hey,' said a voice, and she looked over to see Lancelot leaning against the wall, holding a beer and looking just as out of it as she felt. 'How you doing?'_

'_You're not Joey,' she laughed, walking over to him and putting a hand on his shoulder. They slid down the wall and sat down next to each other. _

'_I know,' he slurred. 'I'm Lancelot. And you're Guinevere.'_

'_Yes I am,' she smiled. 'And I must say, Lancelot DuLac, you are looking rather spectacular today.'_

'_Thank you. So are you.' They stared at each other for a moment. 'So should we...'_

'_Yeah.' And then they were kissing, and then they were in a bed, and then she was waking up the next morning naked next to Lancelot, who was equally naked. He was already awake, and grimaced at her._

'_Morning,' he said._

_She rolled over to face him. 'About last night...'_

'_Don't worry. I know it didn't mean anything, and I know it was a mistake, and it definitely won't affect our friendship. Pinky promise?' he held up his pinky finger, and she linked it with her own. _

'_Pinky promise.'_

'Gwen?'

She jumped. Arthur was looking across at her, amused. 'Earth to Guinevere...'

'Sorry, long day,' she said, returning to her pasta. 'How were your interviews?'

As he talked about how boring the questions for press releases were, she decided not to tell Arthur about her and Lancelot's night together. Even if it had been a single drunken mistake that had happened years ago, she was sure he wouldn't appreciate learning about it. It was just something that would never come up in conversation. After all, there was no point in causing a fight about something so meaningless and old... was there?

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**So that's chapter one done!**

**Chapter two is already finished so I'll put that up in a few days when I'm completely happy with it. In the meantime, please subscribe and review!**

**xxx**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

**Thank you so much for all of your lovely reviews for the last chapter. Please review this one as well, because I really do value your feedback and it definitely influences my writing... enjoy!xxx**

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Merlin woke once again, to the sound of his eight-week pregnant girlfriend throwing up. He sat up groggily in bed and rubbed his eyes before going through to the kitchen area of their flat and filling a glass with water. He took a sip for himself and then entered the bathroom, handing the glass to Freya, who was still crouched over the toilet. She straightened up, flushed the toilet and took a sip of the water, grimacing. 'Thanks,' she whispered.

He grimaced back. 'Any better?' he asked, pulling her against his bare chest and rubbing her back. He felt her muscles loosen against him.

'A bit,' she replied, and then released herself. 'I need a shower.' They both caught sight of themselves in the mirror opposite. Both were even paler than usual due to the lack of sleep- Freya's morning sickness was in fact morning, afternoon, evening and three-in-the-morning sickness. Freya sighed and turned away from the mirror, pulling off her t-shirt (well, Merlin's t-shirt, originally. She'd claimed it for her night gown long ago) and knickers before stepping into the shower and turning on the water. And then she began to cry.

Merlin stared at her in bewilderment. 'Freya?'

'There's no hot water,' she said angrily through her tears, slamming the shower off and stepping out, standing naked and dripping water onto the floor in front of him. 'All I wanted was a warm shower...' she began to sob and Merlin let her fall into his arms, both of them sitting to lean against the side of the bath. Eventually, he whispered, 'Do you want some breakfast?'

She nodded. 'Just toast. Anything else and I'll throw up.'

He kissed the top of her head and stood up. 'It'll be ready for you in the kitchen when you want it. Get dressed, you'll feel better. We've got a long day ahead.' He left her and went through to the kitchen, shutting the door behind him. Once he was alone, he leant against the counter and put his face in his hands. He was exhausted just on Freya's behalf, so he couldn't begin to imagine how she was feeling. Tonight, they were going round to her parents' house to tell them about the pregnancy, which was something they were both dreading. Tomorrow night they were telling Hunith, which he didn't think would be as bad- his mother had always been very understanding. Freya's parents on the other hand...

There was a knock at the front door, and he jumped before going to answer it. To his surprise, Gwaine was standing there in shorts, trainers and a t-shirt, grinning. 'Morning,' he said, walking past him into the flat.

'Um, morning,' said Merlin, shutting the door and watching Gwaine walk straight over to the fridge and take out the carton of milk. 'Help yourself, I guess...' he muttered as Gwaine drank the entire carton in one go.

'Sorry, I know I don't usually do this,' said Gwaine, throwing the carton into the bin and wiping his mouth. 'It's just I've been running, getting fit for this role that used to be Arthur's, you know, and I forgot to take a drink, and your flat was closer, and I knew you wouldn't mind. Have you got any water?'

'Help yourself,' said Merlin, amused as Gwaine downed a glass of water.

'Merlin?' called Freya from the bathroom. 'Is someone there?'

'Only me,' shouted Gwaine. 'I just needed a drink, sorry... I'll get out of your hair, I'm sure you're very busy.' He grinned at Merlin again. 'Thanks for the milk. Will you be at Camelot today?'

'I'm doing the press releases with Arthur.'

'Oh yeah. I'll see you around, then. See you, Freya!' he shook Merlin's hand vigorously before bounding out of the flat again. Merlin went to look out of the window, where three stories down he could see the street below. He only had to wait a few moments before he saw Gwaine sprinting away from the building, and frowned. Was it his imagination, or had Gwaine been acting rather erratically lately? It hadn't exactly been the easiest time for him, what with him being given Arthur's lead role and promoting for Camelot, but still...

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Gwaine returned home an hour and a half later, the effects of the cocaine he had used to wake him up now wearing off. He couldn't remember much of what he had just spent his morning doing, only that he had been running and it had been _good. _He flopped down onto his sofa and reached for his cigarettes, lighting one and taking a long drag. He hadn't had a hit as good as that for a while, and to be honest it had gone straight to his head. He took another drag of the cigarette and flicked some ash onto the carpet, rubbing it away with the toe of his trainer.

Drugs had now become a frequent habit of his. At first it had only been for nights out, but then he had eventually realised how stupid this was. The hits made him feel good, and less shit about Freya being in love with his best friend, so why not let him feel good all week long? He had started off with just the evenings, maybe a line or drag of something to help relieve him of the day's pressures, but then he began to feel the after-effects every morning after. He'd quickly discovered that taking a shot of vodka when he woke up helped, so that had become a habit. Then there was a glass (or three) of wine with dinner, more if they went out... but he had it under control. He could stop if he wanted to. He could stop at any moment if he wanted to. Any moment.

He just couldn't see why that would ever be necessary.

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'Oh, it's been so long since we've seen you!' Morgana cried, throwing her arms around Freya as soon as they entered the flat. Leon appeared behind her and grinned, shaking Merlin's hand. 'Everyone else is already here,' Morgana gushed, leading them through to the kitchen, where around the table sat Gwen, Arthur, Gwaine and Percival. 'The dinner's almost ready, it's just got a few minutes left in the oven... let me take your coats...'

They sat down, and Merlin squeezed Freya's hand comfortingly under the table as everyone said hello at once. Morgana and Leon also sat back down again, beaming around at all of them. 'Arthur said you've been ill recently, Freya,' said Gwen, smiling across at her. 'You look better now. Do you feel better?'

Freya glanced across at Merlin, who shrugged. 'We might as well tell them now, I suppose,' she whispered to him, and he nodded.

'Tell us what?' asked Leon.

Merlin looked around at them all. 'Freya's pregnant.'

There was a moment of silence, and then the whole table erupted into cheers of congratulations and clapping. Gwaine stood up and went to get another beer from the fridge, and with his back turned he said, 'Congratulations, you guys!'

'Thanks,' said Merlin. He was a little surprised about how _happy _everyone was about this news. 'You all seem so...'

'This is amazing!' Morgana said, pouring everyone more wine. 'Oh, sorry, Freya- what do you want to drink? We have juice, squash, milk...'

'Just- just water, please,' said Freya, and turned to look at Merlin with tears in her eyes. She smiled a watery smile, and he smiled back. For the first time, he began to see this pregnancy as something other than a curse.

Morgana handed Freya a glass of water and then sat back down again. 'When are you due?' she asked.

'I've still got seven months to go,' said Freya, biting her lip. 'Actually, we need to book an appointment with the doctor, because we haven't even thought that far ahead... oh, it's all been so sudden.' She paused, and looked around anxiously. 'I just want to say thank you to you all for being so... so happy, and for inviting me into your friendship group, because you've all been together long before Merlin introduced me to you all, and...'

'Oh, don't worry about that, it feels like you've been here forever,' said Gwen warmly. 'How amazing is this? There's actually going to be a baby around here soon!'

The dinner continued to be littered with conversations about Freya's pregnancy, as well as promotion for the Sword in the Stone, Morgana and Leon's wedding plans and Gwen's new business. By the time dessert was being cleared away, Gwaine was beginning to slur his words, and Percival offered to take him home- their flats were opposite each others. Once the two of them had left, Merlin glanced at Freya and said, 'Actually, I think we should be getting off, too. It's been a long day.'

Freya smiled at him gratefully. Clearly he had noticed that she had begun to fidget in her chair. They got their coats and said their goodbyes, taking the ten-minute walk back to their flat and shutting themselves in. Wordlessly, Merlin looked at Freya and whispered, 'Did I tell you how beautiful you look tonight?'

Freya smiled and blushed. 'I think you might have mentioned it on the way there, yes.'

'I'm serious. You look... well, you're glowing.' He tenderly cupped her face in his hands and kissed her slowly, soundlessly, and she melted into his arms.

His breath was hot against her skin and she felt goosebumps appear on her neck, where he moved his lips to, gently pushing her coat off her shoulders. She returned the favour, followed by his tie. And shirt. And then her dress was gone, and both their shoes, and his socks and her tights, and then his belt and her bra, and then his boxers, and then her knickers. They moved slowly through the living room, with her walking backwards, but just as she thought she was going to be pushed through into the bedroom she instead found herself pressed against the wall.

Merlin paused, taking in her appearance. Her head was tilted slightly to the side, her hands against his back and legs on either side of his. 'Marry me,' he whispered.

She stilled for a moment, and then brought their lips together again. 'Yes,' she replied simply, and then they collided perfectly, in their own small bubble of content.

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**

'That was a good night,' said Gwen happily, linking her fingers with Arthur's and swinging their arms as they walked back to Arthur's flat. 'And Merlin and Freya are going to have a baby! How wonderful is that?'

'Wonderful,' Arthur agreed, looking down at their linked hands as they walked.

'I mean, it is a bit soon, and they both looked absolutely terrified, but as long as we're all there to help them then they should be all right...'

'Do you want kids?' said Arthur unexpectedly. Gwen stared at him in shock.

'Sorry?' she asked.

'Do you want kids?' he repeated. 'Not right now, obviously, but one day.'

She paused, and then smiled. 'Maybe. Yes. One day. What about you?'

'I want an army of children,' he decided, grinning. 'Obviously not yet, because I'd like to be married first...'

'I really have been a good influence on you,' laughed Gwen. 'When we first met, you'd just given an interview saying you would probably never get married, let alone have children.'

They stopped walking and Arthur pulled Gwen against his chest, kissing her quickly. 'I'll have to find some way to repay you for your services,' he whispered roughly. His hands found her hips, and she shivered at the contact.

'We should, um, we should get back,' whispered Gwen, making them walk again. Arthur's eyes never left her face as they crossed the road into Arthur's street. Their pace sped up, and as soon as they were inside, their mouths found each other again. She laughed at his eagerness to undress her and helped him with the ties on her dress before they stumbled into the bedroom, laughing at the clumsiness of their movements. When he was lying on top of her, Arthur paused in his movements and whispered, 'I love you.'

She smiled, and reached up to kiss him. 'I love you too.'

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'Are you sure you'll be all right?' Percival asked worriedly, as he dragged Gwaine into his flat and watched him stumble into the kitchen.

'I'm fine,' Gwaine slurred, looking through his cupboards for something. 'You should sleep. Not here. At yours... go and sleep.'

Percival hesitated. 'All right,' he said eventually. His flat was only across the hall from Gwaine's, after all. 'Give me a shout if you need anything, yeah?'

'Got it.' Gwaine waited until he was certain Percival had left the flat before staggering into the bathroom and opening up the medicine cabinet.

_Freya was pregnant._

A small part of him had always hoped that Merlin and Freya would split up for some reason or another, and then she would realise that it was because she had been in love with _him _all along. But now they were having a baby together. A fucking baby, which would of course mean they would be joined together for the rest of their lives.

He was vaguely aware that he was crying as he found the needle and shut out the rest of the world.

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**

'Everything smells amazing,' said Arthur in wonder, coming out of the bedroom and going into the kitchen to stand behind Gwen and plant a kiss on her collarbone. They were at Gwen's flat, and dinner was being cooked in preparation for their dinner with Lancelot, who was due to arrive in ten minutes. She leant back and smiled, stopping stirring the sauce for a moment and letting his lips move across to her shoulder. 'Is there anything you want me to do?' he asked after a moment of simply breathing in her scent.

'Um...' she looked around. Nearly everything was done, and there was no way she was trusting him to look after the actual food, not now she had discovered he couldn't even fry an egg. 'You can set the table, if you want.'

'Okay.' He kissed her once more and then moved to the cupboard to get out plates. 'How was your day?' he asked as he put the plates on the table. He'd arrived in time for sex and then a shower as she had started to cook, so they hadn't exactly had a lot of time to talk today.

'It was good,' said Gwen happily, adding a bit more pepper to the sauce. 'We were auditioning more models today for the website, which was interesting.'

'How come?'

'Well, we specifically told them to arrive completely bare-faced, because our unique selling point seems to have become the whole minimal make-up look, but we still had to turn about twenty girls away because they tried to do the whole "invisible" make-up thing- you know, pretending they weren't wearing any but actually being really obvious that they were wearing foundation...'

Arthur smiled to himself as he laid out the cutlery. Gwen had never spoken this passionately about working for Camelot, and it was nice to see her finally in the right place. In truth, he was a little nervous about meeting Lancelot tonight. It wasn't that he was worried Gwen would leave him for Lancelot- he trusted her completely. It was just that Arthur knew nothing about the world of fashion, and Lancelot obviously did. Lancelot was involved in this whirlwind that Gwen was in, with her business plans and her designs and her campaigns, and Arthur could only watch from the sidelines. The only thing he could really do was support her decisions (he could hardly give advice; he knew _nothing_) and hope to God that Lancelot was really ugly.

There was a knock on the door, and Gwen stopped talking, taking off her apron and hanging it up on the back of the kitchen door. 'I'll get it,' she said, and Arthur listened intently as she opened the front door. He could hear a man's voice saying something quietly, and Gwen laughing- _don't get jealous, _he told himself sternly- and then Gwen walked back in with Lancelot in tow. Arthur's stomach dropped. To his dismay, Lancelot looked something like a God. Perfectly styled black hair, cheekbones to die for, smartly dressed- this man was perfect.

'Arthur, this is Lancelot Du Lac,' said Gwen proudly, looking between the two men.

Arthur forced himself to smile and shook Lancelot's hand, who grinned back easily. 'Nice to meet you,' said Lancelot, and Arthur smiled back, this time a little less forced. He seemed pleasant enough. 'Um, this is for both of you...' he held out a bottle of red wine, which Gwen took.

'Oh, you really didn't have to,' she laughed, getting three wine glasses out of the cupboard and a corkscrew. 'Arthur, isn't this great? And oh, it smells so good, here...'

Arthur inhaled deeply and smiled again. 'Smells amazing. Thanks, mate,' he lied. He hated red wine. Always had. He was pretty sure Gwen knew this, because when she handed him a glass, it was only half-full and was accompanied with a sympathetic smile.

As they sat down and ate, Arthur watched how Gwen and Lancelot interacted. She laughed at his jokes (which were unfortunately very funny), she played with her hair, they paid each other compliments. They barely paid attention to him sat in the middle, occasionally asking his opinion on something to do with the industry which of course he knew nothing about. Ignoring its disgusting taste, Arthur managed to drink several more glasses of the wine, until finally dessert had been cleared away and Lancelot was buttoning up his coat.

'Well, it was great to finally meet you, Arthur,' he said, and Arthur stumbled slightly as he stood up to shake his hand.

'You too,' said Arthur with another smile. 'And thanks again for the wine, it was delicious.'

'No problem. Hope to see you soon... and Gwen, I'll see you tomorrow at the office?' he looked questioningly at her, and she nodded.

'I'll see you out,' she said quickly, and the two of them walked out into the hallway. To Arthur's surprise, Gwen glared at him before shutting him in the kitchen. He frowned and then pressed his ear to the door to hear what they were saying. They were speaking quietly, but he managed to make out most of what they were saying.

'I'm sorry about Arthur,' Gwen was saying quietly, and Arthur felt himself begin to heat up. She was apologising on his behalf? For what? 'He's not usually like that.'

'Don't worry about it,' Lancelot replied, just as quietly. 'He had quite a bit to drink, and I'm sure on some level he probably felt intimidated.'

There was a pause. 'Intimidated? Why would he feel intimidated?' Gwen asked after a moment.

'Well, you know. Because of what happened. With us.'

Arthur closed his eyes. Please, no.

'He doesn't know,' Gwen replied quickly.

'He doesn't?'

'I didn't see the point in telling him. It was years ago, we were both really drunk... it was one night. It meant nothing. He's got enough on his plate without having to feel jealous- not that he would have any reason to. Please, just don't bring it up. For me.'

There was another pause. 'Okay,' said Lancelot. 'I'll see you tomorrow.'

'See you.' The door shut, and Arthur sat back down at the table hastily, forcing himself to calm down as she entered the room. He looked up at her and immediately noticed the fury on her face.

'What was that?' she asked quietly, going over to scrape the remains of the food into the bin.

'What was what?' he replied, fiddling with the salt shaker.

'That- that _performance _you just gave. It was so embarrassing! You just sat in silence for the majority of the meal, and when we tried to include you, you just gave one-word answers.'

'I was the one performing?' Arthur exclaimed, sitting up straight. 'What about you, laughing just a bit too loudly and fiddling with your hair all the time? Was that to impress him?'

Gwen laughed, but he could tell she wasn't amused. 'That was my feeble attempt to cover up your rudeness. And what about the amount you drank? You hate red wine! You always have!'

'Well, perhaps I don't hate it so much, not now that it was the only thing that got me through this evening,' he snapped, and immediately regretted it.

'Look,' said Gwen quietly, still facing away from him. 'I am trying very hard at the moment to incorporate you into my new life. I want you to be a part of it, really, I do. And Lancelot already is. I want the two of you to get along, because then you'll be even more involved. But I need you to try as well. Lancelot was, he kept trying to ask you loads of questions, but...'

'I am trying,' said Arthur through gritted teeth. 'But don't expect me to just- just completely ignore my other life, just because you've got a new job.'

'I don't expect you to ignore Camelot! When have I ever given you that impression?'

'I ask you about your day all the time,' said Arthur furiously. 'Every time we see each other, I ask you how your day was, and I listen. I listen to all your stories about your teams, and your new designs, but you very rarely ask me about _my _day.'

'Arthur-'

He ignored her. 'Shall I tell you about my day now? Because I'll be honest, it was pretty shit. I had interviews all morning and for half the afternoon with press, which is always mind-numbingly dull because they all ask the same unoriginal questions. And then to top it all off, I had to go to Camelot to collect some stuff from my dressing room, and my dad was there, and do you know what he did? He _blanked _me. My own dad refused to acknowledge the existence of his own son. Because of _you. _I have given up so much for you, Guinevere, but sometimes I feel like I'm giving more than I'm receiving in this relationship!'

'Well, if I'm really that much of an inconvenience, maybe you should just leave,' Gwen snapped, finally turning round. 'If all you care about is your stupid job...'

Arthur stared at her. 'You hypocrite,' he said quietly, and picked up his keys from the side before leaving the kitchen.

'Arthur,' Gwen called out feebly, but got no reply. A moment later the front door slammed shut.

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x **

Arthur nearly ran down the stairs and out into the dark street, getting into his car and swearing angrily as he tried to put his seatbelt on. Eventually he got it to work and drove quickly and unsteadily to his flat, which made him think the amount of red wine he had drank probably meant he was over the limit, and then slammed his front door shut behind him and kicking off his shoes. For a moment he just stood still, looking around. It was too quiet, so he attached his iPod to his speakers and turned the volume up so that the bass was making the ground shake beneath his feet. Remembering what a good idea it had been to buy surround sound speakers, he went through to the living room and lay down on the sofa, shutting his eyes and letting himself be absorbed by the music. He must have drifted off at some point, because the next thing he knew, he was being woken by the sound of someone buzzing to be let into the building. The album he had been listening to had stopped, and he sat up groggily before going over to pick up the phone.

'Who is it?' he said cautiously, checking his watch. It was quarter to one in the morning.

'It's me,' said Gwen's voice, to his surprise. 'Can I see you?'

Wordlessly, he buzzed her in and put the phone down, rubbing his eyes in an attempt to wake himself up. He only had to wait a minute before there was a knock on the door, and then he let Gwen in. She stood in front of him, cheeks slightly flushed from hurrying up the stairs, and took in his appearance.

'Thank god you're alive,' she muttered, running a hand through her hair. Arthur frowned. 'What do you mean?'

'Arthur, you drank nearly an entire bottle of red wine. You must have been over the limit, and I saw you drive off so quickly, and I tried to give you space to clear your head, but I'm sorry, I had to see you.'

'Oh. Right.' He turned slowly in a circle, showing her his body. 'Well, here I am. Alive and well. Slightly tired, though, because it's quarter to one in the morning...'

'I'm sorry,' she said again. 'But I... I didn't want to wait until morning to sort this out.' She paused. 'Can we sit down?'

'Er, yeah. Sure.' He gestured for the living room and she walked through, sitting down on the sofa. He sat down next to her and watched expectantly.

'Okay.' She cleared her throat. 'Maybe... maybe I've been a little bit preoccupied with my job.'

'A little?'

'I've been very preoccupied with my job,' she corrected herself with a smile. 'And I've only been focusing on how busy my life is right now, without stopping to think about what you're going through with your father.'

'Guinevere...'

'No, let me finish. And I can see why you'd feel intimidated by my closeness with Lancelot, but you have to understand that he's only in that one aspect of my life. I'm not in a relationship with him- I'm with you, and only you. And I'm sorry for not asking you more about what's going on at Camelot, but a part of me thought you might not want to talk about it. Clearly I was wrong, and I'm sorry about that, too...'

'Guinevere,' he tried again, but she carried on.

'And I promise to take into consideration what's going on with your father from now on, and the pressure you're under, but I need you to help me out, too. I need you to be less hostile to Lancelot, because if that's how you're going to act every time I work closely with a man, I don't see how it's going to work, and-'

Arthur pulled her close suddenly, which got her to stop talking. They were nose to nose when he whispered, 'I'm sorry about tonight. I was a dick. And if you can forgive me, I promise it won't happen again.'

Part of him wanted to ask her about what Lancelot had meant- what had happened between them? But if it had been anything serious, she would have told him. Like she said, whatever it was had been years and years ago, and didn't mean anything. That discussion could be saved for another day.

Gwen's face softened. 'Only if you forgive me too. I'm sorry.'

'So we're both sorry.'

'Yeah.'

'Okay.' He kissed her softly, feeling her relax as he pushed her onto her back against the sofa cushions.

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x **

Later, when their breathing had returned to normal and their naked bodies were covered by a blanket, Gwen looked down at Arthur, who was resting his head on her shoulder. 'We just had our first proper fight,' she whispered.

He looked up at her and smiled. 'Oh, yeah. And we survived it. I think that deserves a high-five.' They high-fived each other softly and then linked their fingers together. There was a moment's silence before Arthur felt Gwen's stomach rumble against his. He chuckled. 'Are you hungry?'

She laughed with him. 'I actually think I am. Do you have any food?'

'Half a loaf of bread, and I think it's stale.'

'Oh.'

Arthur smiled and sat up straighter to look her in the eyes. 'You know what we've never done?'

'What?'

'We've never ordered from Benny's.'

'What's Benny's?'

'Benny's is the greatest cafe and takeaway place you will ever come across. I actually have them on speed-dial on my phone...'

'You do?' she sat up with him. 'Are they open twenty-four hours?'

'They are indeed. When I would come back from a night out at three in the morning, or have had to get up in the middle of the night for a night shoot, I always order from Benny's.'

'Well, this sounds amazing,' said Gwen with a smile. 'What do you usually order?'

'Pizza. Or milkshakes. Which would you prefer?'

She laughed. 'Let's get both.'

'Okay. Let me grab the phone.' He kissed her quickly and left the room. Gwen lay back on the sofa with a smile on her face, listening to him talk to someone on the phone. After several minutes he returned, sliding back under the blanket with her. 'It'll be here in about twenty minutes,' he told her.

'That's fast.'

'Well, it's only a couple of streets away.'

They talked quietly until they were interrupted by someone buzzing to be let into the building. Arthur sighed dramatically, putting on his shirt and boxers before going to answer the door. Gwen heard him talking to another man for a minute and some laughter before he re-entered the room, carrying a box of pizza and two plastic cartons of strawberry milkshake.

'This is amazing,' said Gwen happily as he sat down next to her and opened up the pizza box. 'You know, I've never had a midnight feast with a boyfriend before.'

'Me neither,' said Arthur, taking a bite of the pizza. 'Probably because I've never had a boyfriend.'

Gwen laughed again, but stopped when she took her first sip of milkshake. 'Oh my god. That is, without a doubt, the greatest milkshake I've ever tasted.'

'Well, I'm glad you like it.' Arthur held up his own milkshake and touched it against hers gently. 'Cheers.'

They ate in silence, occasionally brushing hands or sharing smiles. When they were finished, they sat back against the sofa, with Gwen's legs overlapping Arthur's and his fingertips running through her hair absentmindedly. Then Arthur said quietly, 'I don't ever want to move.'

Gwen yawned. 'I know. It's so comfortable...'

'No, I'm serious.' She looked up at him, and he continued. 'If I could stay right here, full up with the best pizza and milkshake in the world, in the middle of the night with you on my lap, for the rest of my life, I would be so happy...'

Gwen smiled lazily and reached up to kiss him. 'I love you,' she whispered. 'And I'm so glad we didn't wait until the morning to sort the fight out.'

He kissed her back. 'I love you too.'

The fight about what Lancelot had mentioned could definitely wait until another day. What they had together was slightly fragile at the moment, and Arthur really didn't want to risk another fight so soon. Not now.

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x **

Gwen nestled herself against Arthur's side, breathing in his scent and trying to ignore the guilt in her stomach. She had to tell Arthur about Lancelot. It was bound to come up sooner or later, and she didn't dare to think how he would react if he found out from someone else. She just didn't want to hurt him.

She would tell him tomorrow, she decided. Then everything would be out in the open.

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x **

**hey, guys...**

**So I hope that wasn't too soppy... I wanted to make a fight between Arthur and Gwen where they both had valid points, so hopefully I managed that! Let me know if you thought it was all right?**

**Also, what would you guys think of some more involvement from the paparazzi? I've been quite nice to the characters in this sequel so far, but it might spice things up a bit... what do you think?**

**p.s. I'm thinking about getting Elyan more involved in the main plot in a couple of chapters' time. Yes or no?**

**p.p.s. thank you so much to everyone for your reviews. It's so helpful and I love you all!**

**Please review/subscribe!**

**xxxx**


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